The 2nd part of the photographic triangle Shutter speed refers to the amount of time your sensor is exposed to light. In film photography shutter speed was the length of time that the film was exposed to the scene you’re taking a picture of. In digital photography, it is the same except that your film is replaced with a sensor that does the same thing. Shutter speed can range from very slow speeds such several seconds (or minutes on the Bulb setting) to 1/1600 of a second or faster. It might help to visualize your shutter literally as a door, with your shutter speed controlling how fast or how slow the door opens and closes. In most cases you’ll probably be using shutter speeds of 1/60th of a second or faster. This is because anything slower than this is very difficult to use without getting camera shake. http://flickr.com/photos/konaboy/72845202 / The faster you set your shutter speed, the more you will “freeze” motion. some cameras go as fast as 1/8000th sec! Alternately some images made at night with a tripod can be several hours long. If handholding try not to use a speed below 1/60thsec. Longer lenses need faster speeds to obtain a sharp image, i.e. 200mm lens use 1/250th. A faster shutter speed doesn’t allow light to hit your sensor for a long amount of time. The fastest shutter speed on record is from the “Steam” Camera, which uses lasers or some junk to take really fast photographs (as fast as up to 440 trillionths of a second!). Shutter Speeds are usually denoted on your camera as fractions or real numbers: 1/800, 1/600, 1/400, 1/250, 1/200, 1/125, 1/60, 1/15, 1/10, 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 20, 30. These are all related to seconds, with 1/800 = 1/800th of a second and 15” = 15 seconds. 8” 1/500 ¼ 2”6 30” 60” 45”8 Long(er) shutter speeds will blur motion. Tripods are a necessity when shooting long shutter shots. When considering what shutter speed to use in an image you should always ask yourself whether anything in your scene is moving and how you’d like to capture that movement. If there is movement in your scene you have the choice of either freezing the movement (so it looks still) or letting the moving object intentionally blur (giving it a sense of movement). Six month exposure of the sun going over a bridge made from photo paper inside of a coca-cola can with a 25mm pinhole punched in the side. Use your tripod (or a flat, stable surface) for shutter speeds slower than 1/50th of a second -- so any shutter speed reading 50 or below, and anything with inch marks. Use a slow shutter speed to portray a blurred subject or surroundings. If you are hand-holding your camera, set your shutter speed at a minimum of 1/60th of a second (indicated by the number 60) or faster. Hold your breath while taking the photo to help keep yourself steady. If you are wiggly or have wiggly subjects, increase your shutter speed. Fast-moving objects will need a faster shutter speed, around 1/1000 of a second or higher, in order to freeze the subject(s) in action. Shutter Priority Mode (where you control only the shutter speed and your camera controls everything else) is designated by “TV” mode on your DSLR. You set the shutter speed and the camera will do it’s best to select the correct aperture setting to get the right exposure. You must understand how to control both depth of field (aperture) and subject movement (shutter speed) in your pictures. Which is most important? That varies with the type of subject you are shooting. When you want to stop motion, you will have a fast shutter speed and usually a smaller aperture (less light) Fast shutter speed Don’t think about shutter speed without considering your ISO and Aperture, as well. As you change shutter speed you’ll need to change one or both of the other elements to compensate for it. For example if you speed up your shutter speed one stop (for example from 1/125th to 1/250th) you’re effectively letting half as much light into your camera. To compensate for this you’ll probably need to increase your aperture one stop (for example from f16 to f11). The other alternative would be to choose a faster ISO rating (we’ll talk more about this later). A faster shutter speed will freeze action whereas a slower shutter speed can create a blurred effect (or can just be downright blurry.) When you set your shutter speed on your camera, you’ll see numbers like 60, 120, 250, 1000 and so on. These actually represent 1/60th of a second, 1/120th of a second and so on. So the higher the bottom number on the fraction, the faster the shutter speed. The smaller the number, the slower the shutter speed. You will also see shutter speeds for seconds, indicated by inch marks ("). For example, if the display says 1"5, that indicates a shutter speed of 1½ seconds. If the display says 30", the shutter will be open for 30 seconds..